Drug use : Chronic and relapsing or a treatable condition ?

It is argued that the term « chronic relapsing disorder, » which is used frequently to characterize drug use, does not capture the complexity of drug treatment evaluation findings and thereby limits an understanding and appreciation of the accomplishments of drug treatment.

Specifically, it is noteworthy that a substantial minority (19%) of treated drug users have been found to maintain abstinence over a 6-year period posttreatment, and that the three major multisite treatment evaluations sponsored by NIDA have all found that overwhelming majorities of treated drug users do not revert to the levels of drug use (or criminal activity) shown pretreatment.

Thus, the view of inevitable and continuing adoption of pretreatment behaviors, i.e., chronic relapse, gives undeserved comfort to those who deny the utility of drug treatment, and does so at a time when changes in the health care industry threaten the integrity of that treatment.